It’s pretty difficult to not have heard of Nintendo before. Especially if you’re any sort of gaming fan or even just a casual player - you’ve played something that Nintendo created. In a bit of trivia, here are 5 facts that you may not have known about the worldwide corporation.

1. 122 Years Old (and going strong!)

Founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo began on Sept. 23, 1889 as a simple company that made Japanese playing cards. Compared to its main competitors, Nintendo makes them look like such toddlers in age. (Sony only dates back to 1946, while Microsoft’s history began only in 1975.)

2. Love Hotel

Besides just sticking to the gaming industry, the early Nintendo had also ventured out with other business ideas, one of which was a “love hotel.” Mainly popular in Japan, these establishments offered couples rooms by the hour (sort of like a hotel, but shorter stays).

3. WA was Nintendo’s HQ before Microsoft

Redmond, Washington is noted to be the location of Microsoft headquarters, but before they settled in, Nintendo was actually situated there first.

Using the profits from Donkey Kong, Nintendo bought land in Redmond in 1982. Microsoft actually didn’t relocate over from Bellevue, WA until 1986.

4. Nintendo tried their hand at phone development

In the early 2000s, alongside their patents for new gaming systems, Nintendo was also busy working on their own mobile phone. “A development source, who preferred to remain anonymous, has revealed that there was a skunkworks R&D project run by Nokia and Nintendo in the early 2000s - about the same time Nokia was working on its original N-Gage phone.”

Though sadly, after going through the efforts of developing a Nintendo phone concept, it was then taken to the company’s board of directors…where it was rejected.

5. A Shetland Sheepdog named Pikku inspired Nintendogs

The creation of the pet simulation game, Nintendogs, was all thanks to a Shetland sheepdog called Pikku. Pikku belonged to Shigeru Miyamoto, one of Nintendo’s most famous game designers (notably for Mario, Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda). Imagine if Miyamoto had a cat instead, we would’ve had Nintencats…

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